Cleated shoe having a molded sole with separate sections

ABSTRACT

A molded sole structure for a cleated athletic shoe has a number of hard outsole sections separately attached to a softer midsole. Each outsole section extends substantially across the width of the sole structure and includes at least one ground penetrating traction element on the lateral side of the sole structure and at least one ground penetrating traction element on the medial side of the sole structure. Each outsole section is attached to the midsole in series from the heel to the toe of the sole structure.

CROSS REFERENCE

This disclosure claims a priority benefit from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/018,333, filed Jun. 27, 2014, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to footwear, and more particularly, to a molded sole structure for cleated footwear.

BACKGROUND

A typical shoe includes at least an upper and a sole. The upper is usually a soft material that covers the foot and secures it onto the sole. The sole is usually a harder material that provides support for the foot as well as a surface for contacting the ground. In addition, the sole may be constructed to provide traction and to help control the motion of the foot.

For example, a cleated shoe is often used by athletes in many sports, such as baseball, football, lacrosse, soccer, track, field hockey, etc., in order to improve the user's traction on the playing field. The sole structure of a cleated shoe is typically constructed of a single hard material forming an outsole plate having downward traction elements or cleats attached to the bottom of the outsole, with the outsole attached either directly to the uppers, or to a foam midsole. A soft insole may also be part of the sole structure on top of the midsole to provide additional comfort for the user.

When a user is wearing cleated footwear, the shoe restricts the flexible movement of the user's foot due to the single hard material outsole plate. Further, when running, shifting weight, or moving the foot, the user's foot movements are restricted by the hardness of the plate across both the lateral and longitudinal axes of the footwear. This restriction requires the user to apply a greater force in order to flex the cleat. When flexed, however, the shape of the single hard material outsole plate is generally unable to accurately match the natural flex shape of the foot, which in turn causes a lower percentage of surface area contact between the foot and the support structure.

Thus, the rigid construction of a single hard material molded outsole reduces the flexibility of the shoe, decreases the responsiveness of the shoe to the foot motion of the wearer, reduces the wearer's proprioception, and negatively affects the functional and biomechanical performance of the shoe during foot strike and takeoff.

Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an outsole for a cleated shoe that provides improved performance and responsiveness to support flexible athletic foot motions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side plan view of a sole structure for a cleated athletic shoe.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the sole structure of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure describes a molded sole structure for a cleated athletic shoe in which a number of discrete outsole sections are separately attached to a midsole. The midsole and outsole sections may be formed of similar materials, but the outsole sections are formed to have an increased hardness or a higher material density than the midsole. For example, the midsole may be made from a soft foam material while the outsole sections may be made from a hard plastic material. Each outsole section extends substantially across the entire width of the sole structure and includes at least one ground penetrating traction element on the lateral side of the sole structure and at least one ground penetrating traction element on the medial side of the sole structure. The outsole sections are separately attached to the midsole from the heel to the toe of the sole structure.

FIGS. 1-2 illustrate one embodiment of a sole structure 100 for a cleated athletic shoe. The sole structure 100 includes a molded midsole section 110, and a number of discrete molded outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, each separately attached to the midsole, for example, with a suitable adhesive. Each of the outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 extends substantially across the entire width of the sole structure from the lateral side to the medial side of the sole. However, in some embodiments, the outsole sections do not extend across the entire width of the sole structure, but only across a significant width of the sole structure, for example, 75% of the width. The outsole sections should extend far enough across the width of the outsole to provide torsional rigidity and restricted lateral flex to provide lateral foot support. In one embodiment, some or all of the outsole sections may be symmetrical about the longitudinal axis of the sole structure, but in other embodiments, some or all of the outsole sections may be asymmetrical, or a combination of symmetrical and asymmetrical sections.

Each of the outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 includes several ground penetrating traction elements, namely, a downward projecting platform 121 having a metal or plastic cleat 122 in the platform. In one embodiment, the metal or plastic cleat is embedded with the downward projecting platform 121. For example, a plastic cleat could be molded in place with the outsole, or a metal cleat could be positioned in the mold. In another embodiment, the metal or plastic cleat is removable, for example, by providing a threaded receptacle (not shown) as part of the downward projecting platform.

Typically, each of the outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 includes at least one ground penetrating traction element on the lateral side of the sole and at least one ground penetrating traction element on the medial side of the sole. An additional ground penetrating traction element may be included in the center of the toe region, e.g., element 161 on outsole section 160 as shown, and in the center of the heel region, e.g., on outsole section 120 (not shown). The ground penetrating elements may be configured in different arrangements or configurations depending upon the sport or application.

The midsole 110 and the outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 are separately formed from materials having a sufficient degree of difference in their hardness or density to allow each material to flex in response to different levels of applied force. Thus, a harder material is used for the outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 and a softer material is used for the midsole 110, as further described below. The individual hard material outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 are each separately connected to the softer material midsole 110, but in one embodiment, are not connected with the other hard material outsole sections.

The harder material outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 provide rigidity across the lateral axis, e.g., the width of the sole, thereby reducing lateral flex and providing lateral support for the foot. The softer material of the midsole 110 provides a connective membrane which allows for flex across the longitudinal axis (e.g., the length of the sole) along which the sole support structure can flex with the movement of the foot. In one embodiment, the midsole 110 also includes recessed areas 111 between each of the outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 that help enable longitudinal flex.

The midsole 110 and the outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 can be made from a variety of different materials with similar results. For example, in one embodiment, the outsole sections are formed of thermoplastic polyurethane (“TPU”), which is a plastic material with elasticity and resistance to oil, grease and abrasion, while the midsole is formed of ethylene-vinyl acetate (“EVA”), another thermoplastic material, or polyurethane foam (“PU foam”), a low density elastomer. In an embodiment, the outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 can be formed to have an increased hardness relative to the outsole 110. For example, in one embodiment, the maximum hardness of the midsole is Asker C 70, while the minimum hardnesss of the outsole sections is Shore A 70. The midsole 110 and outsole sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 are typically formed by injection molding or compression molding. Other suitable materials include leather, polymers such as thermoplastic elastomer (“TPE”), a nylon and fiberglass compound, Pebax®, carbon fiber, and other suitable plastic or rubberized materials.

Thus, in one embodiment, a support structure for a cleated shoe is constructed with individual hard material outsole sections that reach across the width of the shoe from the lateral side to medial side (lateral axis) but are separated along the longitudinal axis (from forefoot to heel section) to allow for some degree of flex about the longitudinal axis of the sole structure.

By attaching two or more outsole sections to the midsole, production costs can be reduced. For example, two or more individually molded outsole sections can be configured to fit with a larger number of different size midsoles and uppers, and corresponding shoe sizes, therefore reducing the number of size-specific parts that must be made on the production line.

In an alternative embodiment, the outsole could be a single molded member having segmented sections 120, 130, 140, 150, 160 coupled together at thin break points (not shown) that coincide with recesses 111 on the midsole. Thus, the segmented sections can flex at the break points to provide flexibility in the longitudinal direction, while remaining solid to restrict flex in the lateral direction.

A support structure of the type described above, with a soft material base unit (midsole) and harder material outsole sections, provides a higher level of flex across the longitudinal axis and a lower level of flex across the lateral axis, which allows for greater longitudinal flexibility to match the movement and flex of the foot, while restricting lateral flexibility to provide lateral support for the foot. By providing individual outsole section, users can apply a much lower force load to flex the cleat across the longitudinal axis while still benefiting from restricted lateral flex, which provides lateral support. This type of support corresponds more closely to the natural forefoot-to-heel flexibility of the foot, thus providing greater range of motion in response to lower applied force loads, while also providing torsional rigidity and restricted lateral flex to provide lateral support for the foot. This allows the user's foot to flex in the support structure when moving forward and backward without having a concern for the shoe flexing to the same extent side to side.

Support structures of the type described above are also advantageous by allowing a user's foot to maintain a greater percentage of surface area contact with the support structure throughout a greater percentage of the gait cycle, as the user's weight shifts, or as the user's foot moves.

For example, when a baseball player runs to first base from out of the batter's box after a hit ball, the user's foot will flex across the longitudinal axis as the user accelerates forward. This motion is desired by the user and the acceleration is supported by a shoe that provides greater flexibility across the longitudinal axis, which allows for more surface area contact of the user's foot with the footwear support structure and requires a lower applied force load to flex the shoe in support of acceleration, which can also increase comfort and speed of the gait cycle.

In this same motion of running from the batter's box to first base, the user's center of gravity shifts from side to side across the latitudinal axis. A greater variance in the shift tends to slow the rate of acceleration. This motion requires the sole structure of the user's footwear to provide less flex across the lateral axis and a greater level of rigidity and support across the lateral axis.

It will be understood that the inventive sole structure has been described with reference to particular embodiments. However, additions, deletions and changes could be made to these embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Although the sole structure for a cleated athletic shoe has been described to include various components, it is well understood that these components and the described configuration can be modified and rearranged in various other configurations. 

1. A sole structure for a cleated athletic shoe, comprising: a soft midsole; and a plurality of hard outsole sections affixed to the midsole and arranged adjacent to each other along a longitudinal axis of the sole structure, each outsole section extending laterally across a width of the sole structure.
 2. The sole structure of claim 1, wherein the outsole sections are coupled together at a plurality of lateral break lines such that the sole structure can be flexed at each break line about the longitudinal axis.
 3. A sole structure for a cleated athletic shoe, comprising: a midsole; and a plurality of outsole sections each separately attached to the midsole in series from a heel region to a toe region, each outsole section being formed of a harder material than the midsole.
 4. The sole structure of claim 3, wherein each outsole section extends across a width of the sole structure.
 5. The sole structure of claim 4, wherein each outsole section extends across a portion of the width of the sole structure, the portion being adequate to provide torsional rigidity to restrict lateral movement.
 6. The sole structure of claim 4, wherein at least one of the outsole sections is symmetrical about a longitudinal axis of the sole structure.
 7. The sole structure of claim 4, wherein at least one of the outsole sections is asymmetrical about a longitudinal axis of the sole structure.
 8. The sole structure of claim 6, each outsole section further comprising at least a pair of ground penetrating traction elements affixed to a bottom side of the outsole section, with a first one of the ground penetrating traction elements affixed on a lateral side of the sole structure and a second one of the ground penetrating traction elements affixed on a medial side of the sole structure.
 9. The sole structure of claim 3, the midsole further comprising a plurality of recessed areas formed laterally across the midsole in between each of the outsole sections.
 10. The sole structure of claim 3, the midsole formed of a soft foam material and each of the outsole sections formed of a hard plastic material.
 11. A sole structure for a cleated athletic shoe, comprising: a midsole formed of a first material having a first hardness; and a plurality of outsole sections each formed of a second material having a second hardness, the second hardness is greater than the first hardness, each outsole section separately attached to the midsole.
 12. The sole structure of claim 11, wherein each outsole section is separately attached to the midsole in series from a heel region to a toe region of the sole structure.
 13. The sole structure of claim 12, wherein each outsole section extends across a width of the sole structure.
 14. The sole structure of claim 13, wherein at last one of the outsole sections is symmetrical about a longitudinal axis of the sole structure.
 15. The sole structure of claim 13, wherein at last one of the outsole sections is asymmetrical about a longitudinal axis of the sole structure.
 16. The sole structure of claim 11, each outsole section further comprising at least a pair of ground penetrating traction elements affixed to a bottom side of the outsole section, with a first one of the ground penetrating traction elements affixed on a lateral side of the sole structure and a second one of the ground penetrating traction elements affixed on a medial side of the sole structure.
 17. The sole structure of claim 11, the midsole further comprising a plurality of recessed areas formed laterally across the midsole in between each of the outsole sections.
 18. The sole structure of claim 11, the first material is a soft foam material and the second material is a hard plastic material. 